Solar sends GB transmission system demand to historic lows – REALLY?

I was intrigued by this article as I anticipated the National Grid would have a far lower demand placed upon it on Sat 25th March due to the glorious weather, and the generation of lots of lovely green power from our ‘planet saving’ technologies – solar PV and wind turbines!

What I didn’t anticipate was just how giddy some in the Solar PV industry would get!

So, I had to comment on the situation…………

‘It’s good news as it does show intermittent generation technology has a place in the energy generation/demand mix, but it’s hardly ‘landmark’ or ‘historic’ as it is not comparing generation V demand on a comparable timeframe basis.

I would like to see the lovely graphs showing solar PV generation V demand during 1pm -4pm (not a peak time, but a high enough demand timeframe), on a sunny day during the working week, when people aren’t out enjoying the weather.

How many in the solar PV industry are looking at loadshifting to further enhance the generation from Solar PV?’

Don’t get me wrong, I am an advocate for solar PV but installed in the right manner as part an holistic approach to energy efficiency and on site generation, not just sold as a ‘boxed’ solution!

What wasn’t mentioned in the article was – based on this ‘quite good happening’, more loadshifting technology would be rolled out to further enhance the balancing of the National Grid. I am sure they will they get round to it?

I believe those homes in fuel poverty (with electrical heating), should have solar PV and battery storage fitted, to help them rise out of fuel poverty. It would have been a lot cheaper than the costs of ECO and The Green Deal! Hey! but what do I know? (I will eagerly await comments from boxed solution sales peeps telling me I know nothing…hahaha!).

Here’s a more lighthearted post I wrote for social media…..

For those of you who are interested, here’s a classic example of an editor getting really giddy about something, which really isn’t worth getting too giddy about, nor is it a big deal. It’s certainly not ‘historic’ or a ‘landmark’!😂

It is good news that solar PV is helping generate green power for the nation, but it’s an intermittent technology, so if the sun don’t shine, no power gets generated – simples.

What is omitted from this article are some very salient points;🤔

1. Between 1pm and 4pm on Sat when all this power was generated, the demand for power from the National Grid was low due to the vast amount of the population being out in the very sunshine which generated this power, dining alfresco, drinking wine, eating ice creams, in the park, walking the dog, or in the case of Lauren and her pals, quaffing cider! So people weren’t using a lot of leccy in this particular Sat afternoon👍🏻

2. They are comparing the generation period between 1pm and 4pm Sat 25th March with a period of circa 4am – 4.30am Friday night 24th March? That’s like comparing a mouse on static wheel to a hamster riding a Harley Davidson! (Sorry no hamster on a Harley emoji).At 4am in the dead of night the vast majority of the UK are fast asleep, or least in bed pursuing activities which don’t require leccy, or I hope they don’t! And most of the commercial sector is not operating….so, all-in-all, there is a far less demand for leccy on the electricity supply network.

3. What also wasn’t mentioned was how much – we’re talking millions here😳 – the National Grid, via aggregators, paid out to STOP the excess power being generated from other sources – wind turbines – being exported back into the grid?

What the article did imply was the need for businesses to rush out and spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on solar PV so they could get millions from the Gov in subsidies, (subsidies added to everyone’s leccy bills btw 😡), and how clever and great the solar PV industry is for keeping the UK’s lights on……during the day,WTF!!😂😂

Now for all of you in the solar PV industry, you have done a great job of getting the installations onto the roofs of the domestic and commercial sectors, and raising the profile of renewable technology, and for this, I applaud you. But please stop banging on about how hard done too you are due to the subsidy cuts. The whole of the renewables industry has suffered subsidy cuts!